The Mummy (1932), Karloff / Ardeth Bey's Dagger (has anyone here tried tackling this prop?)

[RobertMuldoon]

I've been following your Balkan card search intently, but what you're doing in the Balkan thread is way beyond me.
Most canopic jars look like JARS. The figures I got and posted could literally be substituted for the graphics in a printable STL to make this whole sign printable. I just don't know enough about hieroglyphs to clearly read which glyphs are on the bottom of the warning, and draw them (or paste from google images) into a high rez 2D pic. My modeling skills are better than my art skills.

If someone can even just NAME the hieroglyphs !!!! Then I can get the images and make the sign myself.

Looking at it, they're mostly not proper hieroglyphs. It might be quicker to just mess about in Photoshop, but either way I'll a look when I get a moment.

I definitely agree about the four sons of Horus, it also looks like they have canopic jars at their feet (or at least 3 of them do).

 

[Odin82]

There's a scene in the 1932 movie, a few moments earlier that has a different seal to the tomb. In a follow up movie, The Mummy's Hand, there's another "Seal of the Seven Jackals", but it looks more like that first seal, but no real close up. Was hoping to maybe see if props were reused and if there were any better camera shots.

 

[Jintosh]

Fake it till you make it !!!!!!

It's gibberish, but still looks cool.

<CLICK THIS LINK> FREE STL THE MUMMY STONE

 

[Jintosh]

Oh man ! We were so wrong.....this is a NINJA knife in the movie, not Egyptian !

(just kidding....TOO much research ! )

 

[RobertMuldoon]

View attachment 1455636


Fake it till you make it !!!!!! View attachment 1455633

It's gibberish, but still looks cool.

<CLICK THIS LINK> FREE STL THE MUMMY STONE

It started out as gibberish

 

[Odin82]

Love it

View attachment 1455636


Fake it till you make it !!!!!! View attachment 1455633

It's gibberish, but still looks cool.

<CLICK THIS LINK> FREE STL THE MUMMY STONE

Love it! Guess I'll be hitting up shapeways to do a print for me. Much thanks!

(Speaking of which, Shapeways a good business to invest in? I see they are merging with a SPAC, soon to be finalised. Many people use shapeways?

 

[Odin82]

Made a tiny bit of progress on the test piece today. Weather went to hell so had to give up. Hopefully it will be dry tomorrow and can do some work outdoors. Hoping to at get a test mold and cast done before the weekend is over.

 

[JamesM242]

Looking good!

 

[Odin82]

So did some more work on the test piece, and couldn't resist giving it quick spray of some chrome paint I had laying around. I think it could be done much better and not really satisfied with it, but will still cast it in metal powder to see how it looks after a few rubs with steel wool.

 

[Jintosh]

Looking good. And it actually DOES remind me of that Japanese knife I posted, that was also metal.

 

[ed-209]

Prop from 'Game of Thrones" looks very close. --Ed

 

[Odin82]

Prop from 'Game of Thrones" looks very close. --Ed

Wow - that looks very very very alike! Nice find!

 

[Jintosh]

I remember back in the day, that they told us kids not to wear white for class pictures. And I think black was also an issue. With primitive photography, solid white or solid black might wash out the details. Maybe the knife is silver just because that was what was going to show up the details the best on the camera. It's a lighting choice, not a metal vs. stone choice.

This prop may have even started out as a different color that didn't show up. So, they painted it at the last minute to show up better. The details on the knife are important to the plot, so making them show up better would have been important.

 

[Odin82]

A couple of days ago, was a bit hungover and needed something quick to work on/distract me (I definitely did not use power tools… eek). Tried turning an old wine box into a shadowbox case to see how it would be with a motion activated LED wardrobe light. Then tried what it looked like in an acrylic box that some other wine bottle came in.

 

[JamesM242]

Very nice! How are you "floating" the dagger? It turned out great by the way!

 

[Odin82]

Very nice! How are you "floating" the dagger? It turned out great by the way!

White-tack. Still holding it up as I type a few days later!

Will try carving the dagger from wood next to see how that comes out. I think wood might be better since my sculpting skills kinda suck and a dremel and sanding disc to get the knapped effect. Used the dremel and engraving bit on the first one, and now thinking the sanding bit would have probably been better. All trial and error in getting one that looks like the movie one.

Have one of those 12" Ardeth Bey models that sideshow released a few years back. Last night I was moving it and looked at the dagger the model has, and the dagger even has tiny hieroglyphs on it, but different compared to the screen model, much the same as the mini-scroll the model has too, just random and not movie accurate.

 

[mathew]

Very nice

 

[Krats]

Hi Odin82 , I'm looking at making one of these daggers myself. Can I ask if you had info that influenced you to paint the dagger silver? To me it looks like flint but I appreciate that black and white film leaves it open to interpretation.

 

[Odin82]

I read somewhere online or somewhere in a book about the prop, that it was painted silver so as to be seen better on camera. It had been the natural obsidian look I think, but the decision was taken to paint it silver, so it would look more noticeable on screen in black and white. It's so long ago now that I can't remember the source of where I found that info.

Are you 3D printing one? Looks great!

The thread has reminded me that I never got around to molding and casting the master I made. Always wanted to make one from scratch with knapping.

I might be able to find the source if I fire up an old laptop and see what I saved in folders, but that would be like a 5% chance. Some googling about the dagger should find the page about it though I bet.


Have to ask, is there going to be a Hero Complex release of the dagger??? If so, I'll have to snap one up!

 

[Krats]

I read somewhere online or somewhere in a book about the prop, that it was painted silver so as to be seen better on camera.

That makes sense, thanks Odin82 . I'll do a little googling, see what info I can turn up and report back. If it's silver for readability in B&W but is intended to represent obsidian, that leaves me in a bit of a quandary what colour to paint it in real life. It's the old RPF question of what we're trying to recreate.

And yes, wish I had the time to knapp one of these myself but I've once again turned to 3D printing (although I must confess; I've been a little lazy and only modeled it from the front!) I'll try to make some time to finish the reverse, then upload it to my Thingiverse. Got a few models to put up there but have fallen behind.

Just finishing off a painting of some Horcruxes at the moment, next painting will be an ensemble piece of Egyptian themed props. Won't hijack your thread but my desk is covered in scarabs, scorpions and canopic jars!